The American Shoegaze/Triphop/Slowcore Duo's sophomore effort is their most well known, and most approachable. Beat may have been an album that was chasing the zeitgeist, but in many ways it stumbled upon near genre defining perfection. - Liam
The second album from New York City's Bowery Electric was released in late 1996, less than 15 months after their self-titled debut, but it found them having traveled light years musically in the interim, the group having seemingly decided to see how far they could take the guitar/ bass/ drums/ vocal setup into the atmosphere.
Every aspect of their approach had been refined and focused: squalling, distorted guitars had been transformed into hazy, sensual sheets; the live drums transmuted to sampled rhythms more in debt to the blossoming downtempo sound of the day; bass lines reduced to their most basic diagrams; vocals submerged to become one with the narcotized fog of the instruments; even the lyrics were reduced to a few minimal lines used sparingly so as not to overshadow the dynamic.
Beat is a lush and dense mantra of shadowy percussion, barely-there vocals and immersive drones that envelops the listener in an opiated blanket of sound.
Tracklist:
1. Beat
2. Empty Words
3. Without Stopping
4. Under The Sun
5. Fear Of Flying
6. Looped
7. Black Light
8. Inside Out
9. Coming Down
10. Low Density
11. Postscript